Apparatus for completely separating



1,645 969 Oct i8 1927' A. E. PEW, JR., ET AL APPARATUS FORC,"OMPLIE'IELY SEPRATING GASOLINE FROM MINERAL OIL Filed Feb. 25, 19221Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. f

ARTHUR E. PEW, JR., `OFBRYN. MAWR, AND-HENRY THOMAS,.YOF RIDLEY PARK,PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS T0 SUN OIL COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENN-SYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OE NEW JERSEY. i

APrAnA'rUsron coivrrnnmnnxsnranarmc eAsoLmE Enom: MINERAL oIL.

` Application medrebruary 23, i924. serial No. 694,475.

h with, SerialNo. 694,470 (Case l) there is described a process whereinthe lighter fractions ofgasoline are first distilled off at a relativelylow temperature and the heavier residual oil conveyed to .a still andtherein caused to flow' over a surface oflarge area ina thin layer. `Thetemperature of the still `is substantially above the temperature of thefirst distillation and sufficiently high to vaporize all the heavierfractions `of gaso line in said .flowing shallow stream.` The vapors are`conducted to a` fractionator. wherein the gasoline constituent thereofis allowed to pass ofi' through a` reflux condenser,"` while thecondensate, which"` is mainly or wholly gas oil, is allowed to `flow tostorage. `The residual oil from the still Vis utilized to preheat thecrude oil `tothe degree required to effect the"` first distillation.

.It is well,` known that in the processes of distillation `more commonlyused, there is a veryy incomplete separation ofgasolinej If th-etemperature of distillation is such as to distill off the gasolinecompletely, an objectionable proportion` of higher boilingpoint'constituents goesofi' with the gasoline. Usually, therefore,distillation isconducted ata temperature that will not carry oli' anobjectionably large proportion of suchhigher "boiling pointconstituents,`with theresult i that a substantial proportion `ofgasoline "remains in the still. However, in the process set forth in oursaid application, it is possible to evaporate off .substantially all the`gasoline while it is flowing over the said extended surface in a thinlayer, so that practically no gasoline at .all enters the body of t oilinthe still. Atthe same time, the lstill `temperature need not be sohigh as to carry oli' to the fractionator an objectionably largeproportion of higher boiling point const-itu` i ents. l 1 i A Thepresent invention comprises `the conlayer, Aas stated.

the preheated oil is caused to flow in a thin g i i c A preferredembodiment of the invention 1s shown in the accompanying drawings, inwhich 1 is a simplified view of a still with evaporating pans positionedtherein. Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinal sectional `view of the upperand oil-receiving end of the` upper pan.

Fig. Bis an end view of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is an enlarged section on theline 4 "of Fig. l.

a represents a"cylindricalgshaped still of anysintahle type,.adapted tobe heated in any suitable manner.

Within the still, and above the level of oil intended to be maintainedtherein, are pans Z), c andrZ. The upper pan 7) extends lengthwise of.the still and is slightly inclined in .the direction of 'its length. Thepan is flanged along opposite. side edges. These side flanges e are ofjust su'liicient height to prevent oil flowing oii" the pan sidewise. Atthe4 rear, orhigher, end of the pan, it is 1providedwvith an endY wallf, and a short ldistance infront of this rear wall is a lateralpartition g, functioning as a weir, the

latter being notched along its upper edge.

There is thus formechbetween the rear wall f and partition g a receivingcup h. Oil overflows therefrom, in a number of fine streams, through therecesses formed by the notches in partition g.

`,Preheated oil is supplied to the feed cup 7L through the pipe y',which, preferably, ex-

Vtendsthrough `almost the entire length of the still, so that the oilfiowing therethrough absorbs some additional heat before it isdischarged into the feed cup 7i.

A At the front, or lower, end of pan `b the oil discharges into atransverse pipe k. This pipe, throughout that part of its lengthunderlying the pan, is cut away along its `top at aislight angle to itsaxis, this cutaway. part registering with a transverse slot near thefront edge of the pan. Opposite ends of the pipe are bent down anddischarge into feed cups 'm and n at the upper ends of pans c and drespectively. `To insure that approximately equal volumes of oil yflowing along pan .b shalldischarge onto the pans @#c, the pan t isprovided with a parmaar tition i extending longitudinally from the weirg to the pipe 70. The notched weir g insures a practically equaldivision of oil from the feed cup between the parts of the pan b onopposite sid-es of the partition e'.

Each lower pan c, d? is constructed like the upper pan o; but itsinclination is opposite that of pan b and its width is less, although itis preferred that the combined widths of pans c and Z shall exceed thewidth of pan by.

The still is provided with a draw-off pipe o, through which the oil ispumped from the still at such rate as will maintain the desired vlevelof oil in the still. p is a vapor outlet to a fractionator.

Oil entering the still through pipe j discharges into the receiving cup7L near one end of the still7 overows over the notched weir g and,lspreading out over the surface of pan b, flows along the same toward theopposite end of the still. The depth of this flowing stream may beregulated as desired, such depth depending ou the rate of inflow of theoil, the degree of inclination of the pam and the width of the pan. Oildischarges from this Vpan through pipe 7e onto pans c and d, down whichit flows in a direction opposite to that of the stream flowing along pano., At the lower ends of the pans c and (Z, the unvaporized oildischarges into the body of the still.

Itis found that,l by the use of this contrivance, if the stilltemperature is approximately the usual distilling temperature (say 520F.) required in the more commonly used processes for separatinggasoline, substantially all the `gasoline will be vaporized. Indeed, ananalysis of the residual oil pumped from the body of the still disclosespractically no trace of gasolina The effectiveness of the contrivance isber lieved due to the following factors: The oil spreads out over alarge surface in a thin layer. thereby allowing more intimate contacttherewith of the hot vapors. Further,

this thin sheet ofoil is in contact throughout its area with hot metal,between which and, theoil there is a rapid exchange of heat. It issomewhat advantageous to have the lower pans of greater combined widththan the upper pans, so that the lower streams of owing oil areshallower than the upper stream the lower pans presenting conditionsfavorable to the vaporization of the heavier fractions of gasoline thatmay have escaped vaporization on the upper pan. However, the number oftiers of pans, and the width andl arrangement of pans. are susceptibleof considerable variation and still embody our invention.

Having now fully described our invention, what we claim and desire toprotect by Letters Patent is:

1. ln an apparatus for effecting a substantially complete separation ofgasoline from mineral oill` a still con'lprising an elongated containeradapted to hold a substantial body of oil7 means to receive andlaterally distribute oil in the upper part of the container, an oilconveyor comprising a succession of inclined pans arranged in the upperpart of the container and down which the oil admitted to the containeris adapted to successively flow in a relatively `thin layer anddischarge into the oil body` and means insuring the maintenance of anequal volume of oil on opposite sides of the longitudinal central partof the upper pan and insuring the lequal lateral distribution of oilfrom the upper pan to the part of the oil conveyor immediately beneathit.

2 In an apparatus for effecting a substantially complete separation ofgasoline from mine-ral oil,a still coiinprising an eloiigated containeradapted to hold a substantial body of oil, means to receive andlaterally distribute oil in the upper part of the container, a fiatupper pan `slightly inclined in the direction of its length and thehigher end of which is adapted to receive said oil. a plu- `rality oflower pans arranged side by side under the upper pan and slightlyinclined in a direction opposite to the direction of inclination of theupper pan, and means to distribute oil discharged from the upper pan insubstantially equal volumes to the lower pans.

3. n an apparatus for effecting a substantially complete separation ofgasoline from mineral oil, a still comprisingr an clongated containeradapted to hold a substantial body of oil, means to receive andlaterally distribute oil in the upper part of the container. a flatupper pan slightlyr inclined in the direction of itsleugth and thehigher end of which is adapted to receive said oil, a partitionext-ending along.amaroximately the longitudinal center line of the upperpan, two lower pans arranged side by side under the upper pan and onopposite sides of said line and slightly inclined in a directionopposite to the direction of inclination of the upper pan, and means toconv-ev the several streams of oil from the lower end of the upper panto and distribute them across the higher ends of the lower pans.

4e. In an apparatus for effecting u. substantially complete separationof gasoline from mineral oil` a still comprising an elongated containeradapted to hold a substantial body 0f oil, means to receive andlaterally distribute Aoil in the upper part of the container, a flatupper pan slightly inclined in the direction of its length and thehigher end of which is adapted to receive said oil, a plurality of lowerpans ar'anged side by side under the upper pan and slightly incl-ined ina direction opposite to the direction of inclination of the upper pan,and

a pipe extending across the lower end of the upper pan, said pipe outaway to receive oil from the upper pan,:opposite ends of the pipe beingdown-turned and adapted toconvey oil to the upper ends of the respectivelower pans.

5. In an apparatus for effecting a substantially complete separation ofgasoline from mineral oil, a still comprising an elongated containeradapted to hold a substantial body of oil, means to receive andlaterally distribute oil in the upper part of the container, a flatupper pan slightly inclined in the direction of its length and thehigher end of which is adapted to receive said oil, a plurality of lowerpans arranged side by side under the upper pan and slightly inclined ina direction opposite to the direction of inclination of the upper pan,and means to distribute oil discharged from the lower an to the higherends ofthe lower pans, tlie combined widths of the lower pan(l beinggreater than the width of the uppei pan to provide relatively shallowerstreams, thereby effecting vaporization on the lower pans of heavygasoline fractions that have escaped vaporization on the upper pan.

In testimony of which invention, we` have hereunto set our hands, atPhiladelphia, Pa., on this 14th day of February, 1924.

ARTHUR E. PEW, JR. HENRY THOMAS.

